A mother claims she was reduced to tears when a Jet2 staff member 'escorted her off the airport shuttle bus in front of other passengers and questioned if she was pregnant'.

Claire King was embarking on her first holiday in 11 years on June 7. The Fife-based mum alleges that a male employee pulled her aside and asked if she 'was expecting'.

The 37-year-old, who is a size 12, was preparing to board an early morning flight from Edinburgh Airport to Ibiza with her parents and three-year-old daughter.

She recalls the bus being 'crowded' as she boarded with her family, before noticing the staff member, who had previously checked her passport at the boarding gate, approaching her.

The patient care advisor, who is a size 12-14, alleges he guided her off the bus and 'sized her up' before questioning if she was 'expecting', reports Edinburgh Live.

Claire broke down in tears before boarding the plane, stating it 'cast a shadow' over the holiday. The mother-of-one, who was wearing a T-shirt and loose trousers, says she has since 'examined herself' in the mirror wearing the same outfit and doesn't believe she appears pregnant.

Having experienced four miscarriages prior to having her daughter, Claire asserts that no woman should be asked such a question if there's any uncertainty about whether she is pregnant or not.

Jet2 has issued an apology to Claire, explaining that while staff may need to pose health and safety queries before a flight, the employee in question will undergo further training to prevent such an incident from recurring.

Claire recounted her unsettling experience. She said: "He pulled me over and he said he'd been asked by his manager to come over and ask me if I was expecting. At the same time he kind of looked me up and down."

In response to the unexpected query, she shared: "I looked at him in complete disbelief because it wasn't a question that I expected to come out of his mouth. I just stared at him and it was almost like I was speechless."

Trying to make sense of the situation, she questioned him: "I didn't really know what to say. At that point I turned around and I was like 'is that a serious question?'"

The interaction ended abruptly as he replied to her. She said: "He just looked at me and put his hands up and was like 'okay, that's all I needed to know. Enjoy your holiday', and walked away."

Still reeling from the encounter, Claire noted: "We were still standing there in disbelief looking at each other as if to be like 'what the hell just happened, what was that?'."

The ordeal continued to affect her emotionally: "We were escorted back to the bus. The doors closed and as we started to drive up towards the plane, I could feel myself welling up. I could feel myself getting emotional. I started crying before we'd even got on the plane."

Frustrated by the lack of clarity, she added: "He gave no reasoning. There was no explanation given as to why he even asked that question, what prompted the question, or how he came to that conclusion.

"He said that he has been asked by his manager to come down - whether that is true I have no idea, I've got no evidence to confirm that."

After welcoming her daughter into the world three years ago, Claire admits she 'carries a bit of timber' but cherishes her body for providing her with 'the greatest gift'.

Claire remarked: "For me personally I'm not happy with my body but I'm beyond happy that it's given me the greatest gift that I could ask for.

"At the same time it was my first holiday in 11 years, it was my daughter's first holiday, you do have that self-conscious awareness of yourself and your own body.

"I was about to put my body into a swimsuit, perhaps into tighter fitting clothes, you do have that doubt.

"But for somebody to then come up and ask you that question, it does just make you think 'do I really look like that? Is that how I look?'.

"It shakes your confidence and for the first couple of days of the holiday I was very conscious of myself and it certainly cast a shadow over the beginning of our vacation, which wasn't at all the intention of this trip."

When it comes to pondering if a woman might be expecting, Claire insists such inquiries should never be made.

She continued: "I think that for any woman whether you can conceive naturally, struggle to conceive or you need a little bit of help, or your decision is that you just don't want children, it doesn't really matter.

"There are woman out there who sadly and unfortunately do struggle to conceive or maybe they've just made the decision that they don't want children.

"For me I did struggle to conceive my child, I'd gone through four miscarriages before I had her.

"I've now made the decision that I don't want any more children for that simple reason and also because I have the greatest gift that I could ask for.

"Nobody knows behind the scenes what's going on with other women - you never know what the background story is.

"It's the principle of being asked that question indefinitely by anybody. If you're unsure whether a woman is pregnant or not you just shouldn't ask that question."

A Jet2 spokesman said: "We would like to reiterate our sincere apologies to Ms King, which our team have also done directly.

"The colleague in question is aware that this was not handled in an appropriate manner and is undergoing retraining to ensure it does not happen again.

"Whilst our teams might sometimes be required to ask customers questions for health and safety reasons before a flight, they are trained to handle this in an appropriate manner, and we recognise that this did not happen on this isolated occasion."